Bloc

Bloc

About

About

Bloc is an online coding bootcamp that incorporates 1-on-1 mentorship to prepare each student for a career as a professional software engineer or UX/UI designer. Bloc's apprenticeship approach is tailored specifically to each student's learning needs. In the Web Developer Bootcamp, the curriculum is centered around frontend JavaScript and students can choose whether to learn Ruby on Rails or server-side JavaScript with Node. Bloc’s project-based curriculum is written by expert curriculum developers and vetted by their advisory board comprised of hiring managers. Students work with mentors 1-on-1 to clarify concepts, pair program, and build a portfolio of sites that will demonstrate job readiness as a professional software engineer. Not everyone can quit their job or move to a new city for a bootcamp, so Bloc has designed a comprehensive bootcamp with this in mind. Students can enroll full-time, or complete the program at a part-time pace. Bloc also offers 80 hours per week of real-time access to an experienced developer to answer any questions students may have.

No prior development experience is required to enroll in Bloc, but a strong desire to learn and take on challenges will be important in each student's success! Bloc has a 100% acceptance rate, but is looking for students who are driven, hard-working, and ready to learn.

Career readiness is important to Bloc- their flagship Track programs include job preparation material and career prep workshops. Mentors will help students put together a portfolio and prepare technical interview questions. When ready, students work with the Career Support team to navigate the job search process with an individualized game plan and exposure to Bloc's Employer Network.

Courses

Courses

Design Track

Bloc's Designer Track is an online, self-paced training program that enables career-minded adults with busy lives to go from beginner to job-ready designers.
Designer Track offers the only holistic learning regimen of skilled mentors, industry-vetted curriculum, gated assessments, and a community of fellow designers to support you.
Over 90% of senior designers say designers need to know how to code in today's market. You'll study the Design Process in depth, including UX research, visual design, AND frontend development. You'll also build real-life projects that will make up your portfolio. These skills combined with the Career Services curriculum will ensure that you are the most competitive candidate on the market.
After you complete the program, you'll work with our world-class Career Services team to ensure you find a job. The Designer Track is backed by our Tuition Reimbursement Guarantee, which means that if you don't find a job within 180 days of finishing the program, we will reimburse your tuition in full.

Web Developer Track

Bloc's Web Developer Track is an online, self-paced training program that enables career-minded adults with busy lives to go from beginner to job-ready developers.
Web Developer Track offers a holistic learning regimen of skilled mentors, industry-vetted curriculum, gated assessments, and a community of fellow developers, with a proven 97% employment rate.
You'll learn by completing real-life projects and completing self-guided checkpoints. For each checkpoint you finish, you'll receive feedback from a professional developer. You'll start off by learning frontend programming with HTML/CSS and React.js. You'll then focus on computer science fundamentals, where you'll learn about data structures and algorithms. You'll then move on to your server-side language, choosing either Ruby on Rails or JavaScript with Node.js. Finally, you'll pass a Job Ready Gate, which signifies to Bloc, hiring managers, and yourself that you are ready to get your first job as a developer. From day 1, you'll learn the fundamentals of how to frame and execute your job search with our Career Services curriculum checkpoints.
You'll work with our world-class Career Services team to ensure you find a job. The Web Developer Track is backed by our Tuition Reimbursement Guarantee, which means that if you don't find a job within 180 days of completing the program, we will reimburse your tuition in full.
To learn more, visit https://www.bloc.io/web-developer-track.

I have been in the Bloc program since July of 18. I have learned so many new skills/useful skills that I believe will take me into my job search and beyond. My mentor sessions have been fantastic and super useful in gauging my progress, my skillsets and where I need to make improvement or strides. Bloc's success team and technical coaches have provided supports whenever I needed.

I am looking forward to building my portfolio and really getting into the nitty gritty of applying for jobs. Great experience so far!!!

I am the quintessential coding school fairytale story. I was a bartender and now I am a few months into a great job as a software engineer and I still can't believe my new life is really mine sometimes.

I picked Bloc partly because of the pacing. Unlike a bootcamp, I could still work my old job and support myself and do the coursework when I had time. You really do sort of set your own pace, too: they had one program that was about 6 months and one that was more like a year, which is the one I took, but when things were going well and I wanted to work ahead they didn't mind so in the end I was done in maybe 7 months.

They do a good job of helping you a lot at first but weaning you off of it. You get a lot of detailed instruction on earlier projects then later ones becomre more like just a set of criteria to meet and you do it your own way. This means you do a lot of googling, and you have a very active Slack channel to ask questions if you get stuck, and you save up questions for you mentor meetings as well. Now that I'm out working in the field I can say this is excellent prep for what it is really like at a programming job: getting a set of criteria for a project, only knowing half of it already, doing research to teach myself the rest, and reaching out to ask a coworker questions if I get stuck, is literally what being a real programmer is on a day to day basis.

This actually helped me a lot in job interviews, too. The way that Bloc works like real tech companies do was something I could really use for selling myself. It does mean that you get out of Bloc what you put in. You do a lot of self-teaching and a lot of self goal-setting and you really have to be internally driven. But if you have those qualities then Bloc will become whatever you want it to be (for instance, on my final project I decided to use several technologies Bloc doesn't even teach, and just figure them out myself, and my Bloc mentor was still totally up for helping me and guiding me with that).

So, if you are an internally-driven person, and someone who just loves to learn for learning's sake, you are the kind of person Bloc is made for.

I started the UX Designer track about 2 months ago and honestly think it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. It is so hard to balance work, kids and education, but the flexibility of this program is allowing me to dive in and accomplish a lot in a short amount of time.

The program is really rigorous but the amount of knowledge and skills I am gaining rapidly is so encouraging. I have taken many courses online in the past (that I enjoyed and learned from) but Bloc is really different from my prior experiences. It is efficient and comprehensive.

The weekly mentor meetings are so helpful, as are the coaches on the slack channel. When I am stuck, I can get help immediately, in real time. Though I am working really hard, I am really enjoying the process and feel excited and hopeful about new career prospects.

"Bloc Rules! "

I started the course 8 weeks ago and have enjoyed it all. They mentors and student success team have all been super supportive and the community on slack is always a great reference point if you are stuck. I would recommend this course to anyone looking to begin a career as a web developmer.

I joined 2 months ago and have had a fantastic run. Mentors are helpful in providing high level advice and working with you on numerous projects, grading team is super responsive and helpful in not only getting the answer but also making sure you understand the concept well, and the community is very helpful in keeping up the motivation and sharing ideas. Great course overall!

The seventh week into the Designer's track program. This program has been a dream course ever since I found about it. The support received from Slack, the community, and the mentors are on the spot.

Just put the effort and hours you need to succeed, but the Bloc team is always looking forward to helping you, on whatever problem you have.

The curriculum is the right amount of information you need. The course builds on it, so you don't have to worry about looking for more info. I say this because in today fast paced world and living you get overwhelmed with all the information you receive, especially in your email and your smartphone, its an issue Bloc has foreseen and embedded into their program.

This program has already exceeded my expectations and I'm only 1 month into the program! What's incredible about Bloc is that they give you the flexibility and affordability unlike many other bootcamps. I am planning to complete the program in approximately 5 months, so I will only pay ($1250 x #months enrolled). This pro-rated concept within the framework of a bootcamp is very empowering! Not only to influence you to finish within the time frame you'd like, but to save a lot of money as compared to other programs that force you into a set number of months for a set amount of many thousands more than this programs' average rate. Highly recommend this program!

The Bloc course has been awesome so far! I am 6 weeks enrolled in the Web Developer Track. It has done a great job of building community, mentorship, career preparation, and knowledge. I would definitely suggest this to anyone who has 20-25hrs/week to learn. The reason 'cirriculum' was given a 4star was because I do not feel like each concept is given enough required practice to learn. This is where the instructors and community had a huge impact on me in getting me more resources to truly learn the concepts that I needed to progress.

I will try to post another update as I progress further in the course!

Having a bit of a technical background ( Tech Support/Community Manager) I was thrilled to be awarded a Diversity scholarship from Bloc - which was the only thing that enabled me to attend a coding bootcamp! I am now leveling up my skill set and already interviewing for Jr. Dev jobs - my mentor is really great and the curriculum is interesting so far!

Hi all! I am currently a student with bloc for two months now for web developing. I am a complete beginner when I started and I dont even know how to write a single line of code. But now, I am learning a lot and writing all these complicated codes in just a short period of time while working in a full time job. Its really amazing and I highly recommend bloc!

I've been enrolled in the Design Track at Bloc for about 4 months now, and I am so happy I did. I shopped around for a design bootcamp for months, but the fact that I held a full-time job I couldn't take a break from and that I didn't live in a massive metropolitan area was really limiting my options. The only thing available locally required a lot of money up front and total M-F, 8-5 commitment.

Bloc lets me pace my curriculum in a way that allows me to work my full-time job while still letting me work towards my future. They also offer payment plans and scholarships - which seemed pretty rare when I was researching similar programs.

I won't lie, you will work hard! There's a lot of commitment even at the slowest pace. And be aware of any changes to your coursework. They're constantly updating and that can sometimes tweak an assignment. However, there's a large community available to help you. As long as you communicate with your mentor and the student success team, they will do as much as they can to help you reach the finish line!

I've had a slow start with Bloc thus far, but the knowledeg I've gain has been tremedous witht the time I've deciated to studying. The enrollment process is and straight forward. Mentors are great uplifting peole that keep you motivated and focuese, and also exmaples of software engineers you'd inpsire to become very soon. I'd recommend Bloc tp anyone with a busy schedule, but still enough time to dedicate at least 20 hours a week to help advance your create your start a new career.

I deeply recommend Bloc. I am in their UX Design program after owning my own business for 14 years and was nervous to start over at 40. You get from the program what you are willing to put into it. The challenge level is high but not unattainable. The informations is pecied into succinct digestible chunks. I am super excited to get started in my new career!

I majored in Finance and was working in Finance for a couple of years with ZERO experience in coding. I realized that I need to move to a different direction. I want to work in the Web Development field because I love problem solving, the challenge, and I can be creative on my technical skills! I was rigorously researching for bootcamp programs that's best suited for me and that's when I stumbled upon Bloc. What makes Bloc different than any other Bootcamps is that you can still keep your full time job while on the program. Right now, I'm at 50% of the curriculum and learned so much already. It is very fast paced and challenging. You have to put in the time, work hard and don't give up if you're stuck. Bloc provides the tools and teach the materials that you will be seeing in a real work environment. The mentors are great and very flexible. If you are stuck on the exercises or have general questions about the material, the technical support team on Slack responds within minutes. Bloc also provides different online group sessions. If you have zero experience in coding and want to pursue this field, definitely try Bloc. Put the time and your maximum effort! :)

I'm currently enrolled in Bloc's Designer Track and have been going at it almost full-time since starting it 6-weeks ago. I'll say this... I've first started teaching myself how to code (on and off) for the past year before deciding to double down and take it seriously. I've researched a bunch of coding bootcamps and narrowed it down to a finalist panel of two - Bloc and #@$ (don't want to name drop because each choice or selection is different from one prospective student to another). I chose Bloc. And I'm glad I did.

The one item that really differentiated itself from the competition was the mentorship benefit, which I take it to be more of an apprenticeship style. Having those one-to-one meetings are really beneficial (in my opinion) as you can pick their brain about the various projects you are undertaking; these mentors have been in your shoes before and the information they share is invaluable, not to mention, they hold you accountable for the work set before you and push your limits.

Bloc is really invested in its students' success throughout the program. I make it a habit of reading through a handful of conversations in the student Slack channel and what goes on there is really motivating. I see a number of current students helping each other push through the projects, not to mention alumni jumping in to assist as well. It's as if the Bloc Community has taken on a culture of its own - no developer gets left behind.

I'm really excited and optimistic about this journey with Bloc and cannot wait to pay it forward.

So far I'm a little over 1/3 of the way through the course at Bloc. I've been interested in technology, computers, and programming for a long time and when deciding on where I wanted to go for an education I came across Bloc. I decided on Bloc at first because of how many different ways they help, and they had a good history of students and success. After joining not only was that confirmed but even more than I expected! There is a very strong aura of support and an endless amount of resources to help anyone through the course. My mentor has been very helpful and I have found out many things I did not know before. Having weekly 1-on-1 meetings from someone actually in the industry definitely helps give perspective and knowledge required for getting a job. Finally, one thing I like about Bloc is that they stay modern and that what you learn is actually actively used in the industry, so that you're not learning outdated techniques and software.

Let me start by saying that I come from a science background (Bachelors of Science in Chemistry) and was interested in coding as a skill to help me expand my career options and to prepare me for a more tech oriented future job market. I originally started learning how to code on my own back in October 2016, but after months of trying to get myself motivated everyday after work (day job in the Oil and Gas industry) I realized I was not doing as much as I wanted. So I decided to get serious and look for a coding bootcamp that would give me the structure and motivation to start and finish coding projects. I looked at a lot of the conventional bootcamps that require full time attendance and realized that not only did they have high price tags but they also would force me to quit my day job and as a recent college grad with debt that was not an option. Thats when a friend recommended Bloc to me and I was immediately sold on the idea of one-on-one time with a mentor, a custom schedule, and on top of that the price was right! So I started my Bloc program in February 2017 and had an amazing experience all the way through. My mentor was amazing and super flexible with me. During my time with Bloc I traveled twice a month for work and my mentor was able to make it work for me. I learned so much and it was so much better than being on online forums scrolling through questions, I actually had someone there who I could ask and get a response within hours. Not only that but concepts in coding I didnt understand beforehand became crystal clear. I also liked that Bloc starts off slow but quickly picks up steam in terms of curriculum. Three weeks in and I was feeling very challenged by the Web Developer Track. I can't really speak to job support as my intention was just to gain a skill not to change careers, but I thought that at least during the program my mentor was very helpful in guiding me and helping me make choices about what I wanted to do. I am now 6 months out from Bloc and in that time I have gain recognition at my job for coding tools to make data analysis easier, completed freelance web development jobs for small business, and even learned C and Python. I think at the end of it all the real value of the Bloc Web Developer Track is that it gives you a foundation that you can easily build upon and take in any direction you choose to go.

I'm currently enrolled in Bloc's Design program and my experience has been great! My pursuit of Software Design represents a complete career switch, so I entered this program very green with a steep learning curve ahead. Bloc's been a great place to embark on this journey, as it offers straightforward material combined with access to both excellent resources and a strong support system. And my favorite component of the program is the mentorship, where you get 1-on-1 access to individuals from the design industry who bring their real-word experience and insights to the table. I'd recommend this program to anyone who's looking to pursue a career in Software in a way that fits within their busy lifestyles.

After deciding that teaching was not my calling, I decided to get back into a hobby of mine- web development. I was into it when I was a teenager but felt as though it wasn't a feasible career path because it seemed too difficult/risky. After trying out a few other paths and being stuck in teaching, I decided to see if there would be a way to learn web development quickly and efficiently and change careers asap. I found Bloc after doing a web search for coding bootcamps and loved their website and the fact that they seemed to seek out/support women coders. After being in this course for a little over a month, I've learned HTML, CSS, Javascript and am about to start working on some projects to showcase my skills. The curriculum is easy to follow, and when you get stuck, there is always someone there to help you. Additionally, my mentor felt like a coding friend to me who I could ask anything and get help with whatever problem presented itself to me between meetings with her. I'm so happy I chose Bloc because I'm learning a lot at my own pace and still feel like I will be equipped for a job come this summer!

I love Bloc! I wish I had found Bloc months ago. I have wanted to become a Web Developer for many years but couldnt find a course that would allow me to continue to live my life (i.e. work a job like a responsble adult). Bloc has been awesome. It fits around my schedule so I can continue to work and volunteer my time. The coursework is not easy at all, in fact, at times it can be quite challenging which is what the work will be like so it gives you a reasonable expectation of the future. The best part by far is the support you receive from the mentors, the graders and the other students. No matter when you are working there is someone available to help you if you need it. Bloc is the best decision I have made in a long time.

Bloc is the tour guide that Alice must have wished she had when she first jumped down the rabbit hole.

The world of software and web development is big and full of intimidating jargon. If you try to learn on your own like I did, you might spend a large majority of your time researching all the names of languages, tools, and companies that you don't actually ever end up making much progress because you get distracted by all the shiny articles that claim you must learn this thing and that thing and this thing and that thing... It's easy to get overwhelmed.

Bloc keeps you focused and productive.

They started me off with the fundamentals that I hadn't even thought to think about and research on my own. The things like the Command Line and GitHub, tools that are essential to working like a real professional. And then we moved through the basics of HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, and then for me AngularJS but for new students React, then into the backend. They did the work of deciding how much knowledge is enough to be successful for now in each subject so that you know when to move on. Over time, the pieces start to fit together and all of the sudden you're building projects with your own backend in Rails and then you know how to call an external API, and all of the sudden words like "asynchronous" and "dependency injection" that once sounded like words from a scary horror movie of All the Things You Will Never Understand have become commonplace in your vocabulary. Then you have that Aha! moment, where you discover that after the initial handholding you've become independent and can create projects largely on your own.

When you decide that you want to be a software developer, your friends and family may or may not be the kinds of people that want to talk about the future of Bitcoin and what awesome browser extenstions and Atom plugins will change your life, and they may or may not understand what you're going through when you're contemplating dropping your laptop off a balcony and quitting professional life to go join the circus. Your mentor definitely will, and the Bloc Slack community too. You can still be your old self and and love all the people that were apart of old self's activities, but you gain new people along the way that can relate to what your new self is up to.

The Bloc team is constantly iterating on their curriculum and the structure of the program, which to me is a sign of a good program. They take the feedback from their students, analyze it, and implement changes. Recently, they've added group video calls where you can opt to listen in to a mentor talk about topics like debugging, the browser, the interview STAR method, and how to job search. And though I've yet to get to this part, it seems like their Career Services team is quite helpful. They're very active on Slack by posting new job opportunities, helping with interview questions, providing feedback on email responses, and sharing insight into what's common in the interview process.

While you certainly have to put in the time and the effort in order to be successful (you are changing your entire life, after all), Bloc is the fast track to knowing how to do life as a developer.

I've been a student at Bloc for 2 months now. I'm in the Design Track, part time. So far I feel like the course has been very well presented. The classes are structured logically and progress in difficulty. Since I've joined Bloc, they have made some improvements to their system, which I think is good, because it shows that they are striving to do better all the time. I have a mentor that I like and has been very helpful. They also have a Slack community with mentors on duty to answer any questions you might have while working on projects. This has been a very pleasant experience and I highly recommend the school!

I'd always wanted a career where I could utilize my creative talents. At first, I looked into becoming a software developer, as it's a career that doesn't require a college degree (which I don't have), and there seemed to be plenty of those online courses I could do, and not have to quit working at my full-time job. I chose Bloc because of their great ratings, mentorship program, and the successful results it produced with its graduates. To get more information on the program (and to make sure I really wanted to do this), I spoke with Susannah at Bloc. After learning more about my background and the career I wanted to transition into, Susannah recommended that I would be a great fit for the Design course at Bloc. And so, my design journey at Bloc began! Throughout the course, I developed the necessary skills I needed to become a successful UX Designer, under the guidance of a Senior UX/UI & Product Designer. I saw this mentorship as a valuable experience, a Design Apprenticeship, that college/university students didn't have in their curriculum, without having to go outside of their institution. I completed the Designer Track at their medium pace. On top of a full-time job, this was extremely challenging, but I REALLY wanted a career in design. So, I made temporary sacrifices (bye bye social life!) and dedicated myself to the course from January-October. There were many days where I showed up to work looking like I hadn't slept in months, but I knew at that time it'd eventually be worth it. I'm incredibly grateful to Bloc! I've made a successful career change into Design, something I truly love, and without having any prior design experience. I've also landed my dream UX Design job! I highly recommend Boc's Design course to anyone wanting to make a career change.

Bloc's Design Track has been a wonderful program for me thus far. After working in the EdTech industry for over 3 years, and more directly, at Coding Bootcamps, I've seen the ups and downs of these Bootcamps overall. A lot of them are about the "numbers", and although may be well reveered, give little attention or personalization to each student. This is where Bloc shines. Even with the "flipped model" of education (pro tip: pretty much all Bootcamps operate this way) you can see how hard the staff works to give you every tool you need to succeed. The mentorship aspect is a really wonderful resource, because that 1:1 time is precious. Many other Bootcamps can only do this in group settings, which takes away from the individual.

I searched for a couple of years to find the right Design program for me, because quitting my job to attend a Full-Time, onsite program wasn't feasible... But I'm extremely glad that it happened this way. Even with the delay in starting my career, I'm thankful that I came across Bloc and am confident that my education is in great hands (me + Bloc's model!) Cheers.

First off, I attended a community college prior to Bloc for computer security and forensics. I only went for 1 year before deciding to look into Bloc. So far, the learning approach at Bloc blows the learning approach of a traditional college out of the water.

I love that I can go through the checkpoints at my own pace. If there's a day that I'm busy then I don't have to do any work but best of all in my opinion is that I can go ahead of the curriculum as far as I want. There's never a time that I don't have work to do which is great because the curriculum and learning style is fun.

My mentor is awesome and it's nice to meet with him twice per week. Throughout the week, I'll write down any questions that I have and I get to have them all answered by my mentor during those meetings. If it's a question that is preventing me from moving forward in the checkpoints, I can shoot my mentor a message on Bloc and he always answers within hours.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with Bloc and have learned so much. I think I learned more in the first day at Bloc than I did in an entire year of college. I think that says a lot.

I’m about 1/3 into the course and am having a really good experience so far. I work full time and have odd hours sometimes and Bloc is able to accommodate my needs. The curriculum seems really good. I love that I’ll have a portfolio in the end. The job guarantee is awesome... it serves as a check on the program to provide good resources!

Outcomes

Student Outcomes

* These outcomes are not audited by Course Report. In some cases, data is audited by a third party.

41%Graduation Rate

73%Employed

$65,411Median Salary

Bloc has an acceptance rate of 100%, of which 100% of accepted students enroll in a course. Of the students who enroll at Bloc, 41% graduate. 73% are hired in technical roles within 120 days and report an average income of $65,411.

Matriculation Information

Accepted

161

Enrolled

161

Graduated

66

Job Seeking

30

Job Seeking Graduates Placed:

53%

30 days

63%

60 days

70%

90 days

73%

120 days

97%

After 120 days

Employment Breakdown:

This chart shows the breakdown of roles for job-seeking graduates.

Notes & Caveats:

Bloc students reflected in this report as Enrolled are students who continued after 4 weeks of starting in the Part-Time Web Developer Track, Software Engineer Track, and Full Stack Track.